The political stage is halfway set for the Presidential election in November, with the Democratic National Convention currently ongoing. John Kerry tapped John Edwards to be his running mate in the November election (as speculated here) just following the 4th of July holiday and the Democrats are set to confirm the Kerry/Edwards ticket. Now that leaves President George W. Bush to be officially nominated by the Republican party in late August. There has been some speculation in political circles that Bush may drop Vice President Dick Cheney in favor of a more appealing candidate, and names such as George Pataki and Rudy Giuliani have circulated. Whether this actually happens or not, only time will tell.
The Bush re-election campaign is working hard to paint John Kerry as two things. One of those is a hardcore liberal or, as the Bush campaign's website says, "... the Senate's most out of the mainstream member." The other is that John Kerry is opposed to benefitting our nation's soldiers. I'm actually on the phone right now with the Bushies (been on hold for the last, let's say, 15 or so minutes) trying to see how exactly John Kerry voted against soldiers being able to have body armor. Still waiting. Well, as I wait, I'll continue with my initial note about the Bushies trying to portray Kerry as the Senate's most left-wing nut job.
There was an interesting op-ed (actually with the heading "Op-Chart") entitled "Where Do They Stand?" published in Monday's (7/26) New York Times. Compiled by Sarah Binder, Thomas Mann, Alan Murphy, and Paul Sahre, the piece made note of several things. John Kerry is not Ted Kennedy. That's right, he's actually right of Ted. For shame, Bush. For shame. What unfortunately skews Kerry's record is his lack of voting on social and foreign policy issues. Dare I say for shame Kerry? Bush's campaign has also sought to paint John Edwards as another liberal out of touch with American values. Wrong again or so this op-ed says. John Edwards, according to the authors, right of the the party's center. So, Kerry is left and Edwards is right of D-center. Let us then compare this to the Bush ticket. President Bush's stated positions on issues put him right of the right's center. Okay... What about Dick Cheney? With little to go on over the last four years, the authors used Cheney's terms in the House as litmus. If Democrats could be called acids (pH less than 7) and Republicans could be called bases (pH greater than 7), Dick Cheney, based on his final two years in the House, would be more basic than 90% of his fellow partisans... putting him with NaOH (sodium hydroxide... or as we know it... lye.) So much for the Democratic ticket for being out of touch.
Alright, I hung up on the Bushies. Didn't take me off hold. Tried calling them back... no answer. I think I'll try to get hold of the Kerryites. No such luck. Well, whatever. I've got more than an itching feeling that the vote wasn't only about body armor, though. When I get the goods on the vote, I'll edit this.
So, in conclusion... it appears the Bush team is actually more out of touch with mainstream America than John Kerry and John Edwards are. The Bush team is peddling a lie? No shit.
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